My Foray into My Midwestern Roots

Travel Thursday – Over the Rainbow (part one)

Before I started school, it seemed as if my parents and I were always going somewhere – to see my three uncles in Michigan (my dad’s two brothers in the Detroit area and my mom’s brother in Battle Creek), my aunt in Zanesville, Ohio, my aunt in Philadelphia, or my sister after she married and moved to Georgia. Then there were the short trips around Ohio and Indiana – to reunions or just to “sight see” (Hueston Woods in Ohio, Indian Mounds in Ohio). My dad’s civil service job at the base sent him on many trips (seminars) so I would find myself traveling with my parents to other places like St. Louis (loved the city from the first moment!). Even with all those trips, Mom and Dad wanted to take a long vacation before I started school so in the fall of 1966 – just before I turned five, we set out on a month long journey that would take us from our home east of Dayton north and west and back south to the Pacific Coast before heading east again for home. Our destination: Disneyland! More importantly, we were going to go through Kansas at some point and as a small child, I just knew we were going to see where “Dorothy” lived and perhaps see what was “over the rainbow” too!

On September 1, 1966 the three of us left our home and traveled to Battle Creek, Michigan where we visited my Uncle Glen and Aunt Mary.

(Facing the back of the house from the Lake; Mom and I sitting on the dock)

The next day we went north through the Locks at Saint Sault Marie and into Canada. We took the Trans-Canada Highway into Alberta. (Apparently Norm was there too!)

While we were on the Canadian side, we saw Niagra Falls.

We went to Great Falls, Montana, where my parents lived in the mid-1940s while my dad was stationed there with the Army Air Corps. We stayed with the George and Grace Kelso family with daughters Sandy and Colleen nearby (on a side note as I was just googling these people, I ran across Sandy’s obituary on Findagrave – she and my brother had played together as young children).

Above: Mom and Grace Kelso

After spending a few days with the Kelso’s, we traveled into Idaho and saw the Big Southern Butte, Craters of the Moon, Shoshone Falls and the Twin Falls.

Above Left: I’m getting a closer look at Craters of the Moon.
Above Right: Mom and I at the Big Southern Butte sign.

Stay Tuned for the next installment – where are we headed next?

Sources: personal knowledge and written description published in the Beavercreek News (Beavercreek, Ohio), Oct. 19, 1966.

Photos: Photographer on all photos – Gene Amore; all photos – print, slide, digital in the possession of Wendy Littrell to be used as needed. No reprints without permission.

Copyright for this blog post 2011 Wendy J Littrell.
No part of this blog post may be used or reproduced without explicit permission from the author and must be linked back to this blog.

[…] Since I had visited the theme park as a very young child (see my series of Travel Thursday posts: Over the Rainbow Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5), I pointed out to my grandson the areas I fondly remember. […]